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How to spot the signs of a liar liar with pants on fire (18 Photos)

Let’s face it, no matter how much you try to deny it, we all lie more frequently then we’re willing to admit. Whether it’s a little white lie, or if you’re trying to full a fast one on your SO, there’s a wide spectrum of untruthfulness that we’re willing to live with. But do you ever wonder what goes on within the brain of someone when they’re being deliberately deceptive? Or how your brain changes when you withhold truth? And most importantly, how can you tell when someone is lying to you?

Get your thinking hats on, we’re going in!

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What Happens in you Brain When You Lie
For centuries, scientists, doctors and psychologists have been trying to figure out what it is about the brain that allows for deception, from both the position of the one lying and the one being lied to.

In Victorian times, they relied on Phrenology, where they’d look at the shape of the skull (and by default, the brain beneath as they were decidedly the same shape), and that’s how the determined characteristics, tendencies towards violence and whatnot. Wasn’t very scientific, but they believed that if the parts of your brain that controlled benevolence, agreeableness and self esteem were under developed, you were a pathological liar.

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Now, that medical science has actually been able to truly analyze the brain, the story’s a little different. When you lie, your frontal lobe, the part responsible for cognitive functions and voluntary movement, is activated. This is the part of your brain that is involved in the suppressing or inhibiting of the truth. Then the temporal lobe kicks in. This is the part of the brain that processes memories, so your brain is triple-checking facts and your mental hard drive to make sure the lie is legit.

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Alongside that, the limbic system kicks in. This is the part of the brain that supports emotion, behaviour, motivation, and long-term memory. Whether or not you’re dealing with a pathological liar or someone who feels guilt, depends on how their limbic system is wired in their brain. This also sends out the chemicals for anxiety. All in all, a lie makes the brain light up in primarily these 3 areas in a significant way and it makes your brain really work hard.

On the other side of the spectrum, when you’re not working hard to come up with a creative story and back it up with verified facts, your brain is pretty chill.

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So what does that mean? It means that studies have shown that compulsive liars have up to 26% more white matter in their prefrontal cortex, so they’re better at making connections not grounded in reality. For example, for a practiced liar, it’s not a long stretch from “me” and “sexiest man alive.” As an expert liar, I’d believe that.

So when it comes to a lie, obviously if you watch tv, movies or work in law enforcement, you know about the polygraph machine; the lie detector. The machine works based on certain physiological cues – tremors, heart rate, all things controlled by the limbic system as a result of anxiety felt by the subject.

Therefore, a lie detector test can be fooled if a subject is unusually calm or anxious, and how much they deviate from their baseline. This means that the accuracy of a lie detector can be as low as 50% and as high as 90%, in variable conditions. Which makes the machine incredibly unreliable and inadmissible in court.

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When You Lie, Your Eyes Give You Away
It’s all-out the movement of someones eyes, that’ll give them away when they lie, and it’ll also tell you which part of the brain they’re accessing.

This way, you can actually tell if someone is constructing any made up information or genuinely recalling what happened by the way they look.

Generally, liars look to the left when they’re making shit up. But be aware that this isn’t a foolproof system. This is the most common model of perceiving deception but it’s not the same with everyone Before you go accusing your roommate of stealing or your partner of doing some shady business (both at work and at home), do some homework to see what they do when they’re telling the truth. What their tactics are when they’re constructing information, versus manufacturing it, will help you figure out what’s real or not.

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Every Day I’m Lying
Most people will tell a lie once two twice a day, almost as often as they brush their teeth or snack. So… pretty often.

According to some studies, a fifth of social exchanges that last longer than 10 minutes include at least one lie, and within the period of a week, people will deceive about 30% of those that they interact with one-on-one.

The number increases when it comes to family. For example, college students will like to their mother in every second conversation, which is surprising, but when I was away at school, it was pretty much every time.

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When it comes down to the numbers, 65% of people think that we’ve become less honest in the last decade, while only 2% of people believe that we’ve become more truthful.

In the workplace, 15% of people admitted to telling a lie at work in the past month, and of those liars, 59% didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty. Why, do you ask? Because 79% of people believe that personal gain is more important than integrity and honesty.

That makes me sad.

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So now I bet you’re wondering who’s lying to you the most? When asked, 95% of people obviously thought that politicians were the most likely to lie. This was followed by 92% saying business leaders/CEOs, 91% said celebrities, 77% said Lawyers were the most likely to lie, and finally only 27% thought that doctors would be likely to lie.

Glad to know medical professionals are low on that list. Can you imagine if they lied the most? Wow.

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How To Spot a Poker Bluff
So now that you know how to spot a liar, why not put it to use and win some money? Poker is the only activity where lying is encouraged and if you have the skills to spot a liar, you’ve got a way to become a poker master.

Now, back to some basic anatomy. The neocortex section of the brain is a combination of the Frontal and Temporal lobes of the brain is incredibly intellectual and capable of dishonesty, and therefore, it can’t tell if someone else is being dishonest – it can’t recognize the same traits it’s currently dishing out. So the brain relies on the Limbic system in poker, to react subconsciously to situations and provoke genuinely honest reactions from others, revealing true feelings or when they’re conceding a bluff.

Keep in mind, while you’re reading them, they’re reading you too, so watch for these cues in yourself.

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But there’s only so much a brain can do when it comes to lies inherently. It needs to rely on visual cues as well, to figure out what’s truth and what’s a lie.

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How to Establish a Baseline
First figure out, is the person a pro or amateur? A rookie might be making mistakes all over the place and can’t control their cues and have no poker face. A pro on the other hand, can hide all those things, and even lay down some false clues to deliberately throw you off. You might need multiple games to figure them out, or they might just be too good to read, and in that case, you’re screwed.

Practice your fake baseline and don’t bet big if you have no idea how to read. Otherwise, you’ll be living in a car, by the river somewhere.

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Your Feet Will Give You Away
This comes from a primitive part of our brains. The feet will respond to environmental threats first, by running, freezing or kicking. This is done instantaneously and without thinking about it, so someone might unconsciously start bouncing their feet, wiggling their toes and fidgeting. If you see feet going crazy, they might be holding a good hand, but a sudden stop in movement might indicate a bluff.

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What They Do With Their Torso
Stress and anxiety take a toll on the body. When you’re stressed out, the weight of that lie creates tension in a person’s shoulders, so you might see a slight crunch or roll in the shoulders to release some tension, but you need to be observant to see it.

They’ll also touch their face and neck as a calming gesture. If they’re massaging their neck, stroking their faces or licking their lips, they’re filled with anxious lies and trying to pacify themselves.

If any of these gestures are done in a sexy manner, then hell yeah, they’re distracting you so you don’t catch them in a lie.

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Increased Blood Pressure Leads to Heavy Breathing
Due to the stress of lying, the body needs more oxygen, so they’ll start breathing heavily. This could mean their lying and getting worked up over it. This can also lead to an elevated heart rate and sweating.

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Know the Difference Between High vs. Low Confidence Displays
It’s all about body language here, and it differs between someone who’s got a good hand vs a bad hand, which is obvious. You just need to figure out what actions they do when they’re feeling confident vs. when they’re not feeling good and lying about it. Things like playing with chips, steepled fingers might be a confident gesture while wringing their hands, interlocking fingers or drumming on the table, are signs that they’re over their head and feeding you bullshit. If you can read the nerves and cut through the deception, you can win.

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Most importantly… no one likes being lied to, so use your powers for good.

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